Tizi n'Tichka

The highest major mountain pass in North Africa, the N9 climbs to 2,205 m through the High Atlas on a relentless procession of switchbacks before revealing a vast desert panorama on the descent.

The road tightens at Zerkten into a corridor of red-ochre cliffs and terraced Berber villages, grinding through hundreds of turns to crest the pass at 2,205 m. The descent south unravels into desert-like terrain — green to ochre to rust — past the ancient kasbah of Telouet, confirming the road’s role as a historic trade gateway before the drop toward the Ouarzazate plain.